10th Aug 2009 Session Report: 1st Ever Mass Gaming Session, Well Sort Of...

I have always desired to organize a boardgaming gathering at my place where multiple games run simultaneously. However, it has been difficult to find a regular time slot which is convenient for my friends and thus most of my gaming sessions have been restricted to a series of single games. I figured that this public holiday, I would attempt to get more over for games and in the end, there were 8 of us in total. However, different ones came later in the day so it took awhile before we got the second 'table' going.

Alhambra (Van-132, Ben-125, Me-115)

We started with Alhambra which was part of the trade of Twilight Struggle. I have heard good things about it as a gateway game. It didn't disappoint...I think. I realized that quite a number of turns were just spent taking currency and the game didn't get interesting for me till I started having difficultly piecing my estate together with the various buildings purchase. As the game progresses, the choice of buildings to buy takes on a different dimension as one needs to not only consider the building type relative to the number owned by your opponents but also whether its walls can fit nicely into your estate. All in all, a fine addition to my collection despite me getting routed in the game. Van won the inaugural game with 132 points while Ben and I had 125 and 115 points respectively.

Railroad Tycoon (Me-64, Van-59, Weilong-43, Xiumei-42, Ben-28)

With 5, I brought Railroad Tycoon to the table, desiring to see if there would be more conflict with an additional player compared to my first play. It wasn't much better and I suppose the sheer size of the map does allow you to largely build up your own network of tracks without much disturbance. I managed to dominate much of the north-east despite Weilong's presence, which gave me a lead I didn't relinquish. I rushed for the starting goals and managed to complete the major line from Boston to Washington.

I opted to keep the Major Lines in the deck this time round to avoid overwhelming the new players. The only rules I changed were for the auction and railroad cards. We played the auction so that the first player to pass would start last and so on. Only the first player had to pay his/her bid but the last player from the previous round would have to start the bidding. As for the railroad cards, I only revealed cards equalling the number of players together with the 3 starting cards, and introduced 2 new cards per turn. I didn't want the new players to be discouraged by all the information they had to read right from the start so as to allow them to familiarize themselves with the mechanics of the game. The game took about 2 1/2 hours which wasn't too long for 5 players but I would have appreciated something heavier for the time invested.

Meuterer x2 (Xiumei - 34/33, Me - 33/32, Lijie - 30/23, Ben-15/27)

We proceeded to split into 2 groups after RRT. I introduced Meuterer to my group while Van played Glory to Rome with Mun, Fang Ting and Weilong. Xiumei complained during the rules explanation that they were hard to follow and promptly went on to win both games, pipping me by a point in both. Playing this time with the correct rules, I noticed how the psychological aspect came into play. Choosing whether to reveal your conflict cards during the play of ware cards can be an important decision in garnering support or serving as a bluff. The order in which one plays his/her ware cards can also be important in ensuring the Merchant is left for you. While my issues with the game expressed in the earlier thread remains, the game has moved up a notch in my book regardless.

Glory to Rome (Van - W, Weilong, Fang Ting, Wai Mun)

Didn't hear much of the game except that Weilong and Van were both vying for a victory by Forum, which Van succeeded in finally.

14th July Session Report: First Attempt At Being A Railroad Tycoon!

It was quite a wait but finally, the first of my new games have arrived - Railroad Tycoon and Nexus Ops. My original order included only Nexus Ops cause its price was an absolute steal at A$20 but I couldn't resist adding Railroad Tycoon since it was also on sale at A$60.

Ben joined Van and I for games and I spared no time taking out Railroad Tycoon for its test-run. I have heard the board is big but didn't expect it to come in 3 separate pieces (this is one time I shouldn't have been lazy to use the camera, bah). I had some doubts about acquiring this game initially when I found out Steam was slated for release. After playing RRT though and reading about how Steam differs, I suspect I would stick with RRT as to fill the railway niche in my collection rather than opt for Steam.

The game ended 49, 35 (Van) and 22 (Ben) in my favour. I suppose being more familiar with the rules, I paid greater attention to the new card introduced each turn, and promptly won the auctions when valuable cards were available. Van and Ben probably took awhile to fully grasp the implications of the cards so struggled to value them aright. We played with some recommended tweaks such as laying out the major lines from the start as well as dealing each player 2 Tycoon cards at the start for them to pick one. In addition, I opted to play that cubes added to cities could be drawn before deciding the city to add them to. These served to reduce the luck in the game though I question if the last tweak gave too strong an advantage which the game wasn't designed for. I enjoyed the game except for the fact that there was minimal conflict with only 3 players building tracks on such an enormous map. Perhaps the expansion Railways of England and Wales will prove a better option for 3-4 players.

As mentioned earlier, I decided that I would probably keep RRT despite Steam is being at a preferred weight for me. While not Age of Steam, I figured that Steam remains sufficiently "mathy" to put me off. After my experience with Power Grid, I realized that while I will play them, such games aren't much of an attraction for me. Furthermore, the more casual nature of RRT's gameplay coupled with its attractive components make it a boon when introducing the game to new players. Steam's rules which by no means complicated are somewhat more fiddly IMO. My collection has skewed towards weightier games in recent times, and is in need of some "gateway" sort games. Plus, good eurogames that play up to 6 are a rarity although I realize that I frequently game with 3 (I try to convince myself it's better to be prepared). So apart from a slightly longer gameplay for what it is and the lack of conflict with 3-4, RRT seems a potential keeper. But what sealed the deal was the advanced rules I read for Railways of England and Wales which will offer a weightier alternative to the original ruleset - it has been described as 18xx lite.

Railroad Tycoon And Nexus Ops On Their Way...

Discovered a couple of good deals on Milsims from BGG. Considering the near parity of the Singaporean and Australian dollar, the quarterly crazy deals on the site were a steal. These 2 games weren't on my wishlist but at the prices offered and the favourable reviews on BGG, I decided to take the plunge (doesn't that sound familiar?). It helped that Van's ex-student kindly agreed to lug it back for us from Down Under.

Railroad Tycoon caught my eye at a A$60 price point. How could it have not when the online US retailers have it in stock at US$60??! I figured that it would be nice to add a railway game to my collection. While Age of Steam is the undoubted king of railway games, RT intrigued me with its apparent friendliness to casual players. What use is a brilliant game if it rarely appears at the game table!!! 

The length of the game does concern me though. However after a 3 hour go at Le Havre recently, I realize that good games with minimal downtime do have the ability to make the game time feel shorter than it actually is. It is with this hope that I went ahead with the order (ditto the Battlestar Galactica order).

Nexus Ops was another spur of the moment decision although I harbour less expectations regarding this purchase. A flat shipping fee to any Australian address coupled with a A$20 price point sealed the deal. I have heard good comments about the game, that while evidently in the Ameritrash breed of games had some nice Euro elements. Furthermore, since Van and I donated away her copy of Risk, this could provide something similar which we would actually play. This is especially so since it plays at a much more reasonable game time of 60 min for what it is. 

Nonetheless, the theme may be a turn-off for Van, but I suppose with it being OOP and all, it shouldn't be all that hard to trade it off if it does comes to that.

Should get my hands on them in March (: